Woman sues lawyer parents accused of planting drugs

Kent Wycliffe Easter, 38, and Jill Bjorkholm Easter, 39, are charged with conspiracy to procure the false arrest of the elementary-school parent volunteer, false imprisonment and conspiracy to falsely report a crime. COURTESY OF ORANGE COUNTY DISRTICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

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Jill Bjorkholm Easter, 39, leaves the Santa Ana courthouse on Monday after her arraignment was continued in July 2012. Easter and her husband Kent Wycliffe Easter, 38, are charged with conspiracy to procure the false arrest of the elementary-school parent volunteer, false imprisonment and conspiracy to falsely report a crime. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Jill Bjorkholm Easter, 39, leaves the Santa Ana courthouse July 16, 2012, with her criminal defense lawyer Paul Meyer after her arraignment was continued. Easter and her husband Kent Wycliffe Easter, 38, are charged with conspiracy to procure the false arrest of the elementary-school parent volunteer, false imprisonment and conspiracy to falsely report a crime. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Jill Bjorkholm Easter, 39, leaves the Santa Ana courthouse July 16, 2012, on Monday after her arraignment was continued. Easter and her husband Kent Wycliffe Easter, 38, are charged with conspiracy to procure the false arrest of the elementary-school parent volunteer, false imprisonment and conspiracy to falsely report a crime. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Kent Wycliffe Easter, 38, and Jill Bjorkholm Easter, 39, are charged with conspiracy to procure the false arrest of the elementary-school parent volunteer, false imprisonment and conspiracy to falsely report a crime. COURTESY OF ORANGE COUNTY DISRTICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

SANTA ANA – An Irvine elementary school volunteer and her family have endured a nightmare since she was detained by police after being falsely accused of using illegal drugs, phony accusations stemming from an "evil conspiracy" by a couple now facing criminal charges of conspiracy, according to a civil suit filed by the volunteer.

During a more than year-long investigation by police, the toll on Kelli Peters, her husband, Bill, and their 12-year-old daughter because of the false accusations led to anxiety, panic and fear in the family “that some unknown person or persons were actively trying to destroy them,” the suit filed in Orange County Superior Court says.

Kent Wycliffe Easter, 38, and Jill Bjorkholm Easter, 39, – both attorneys – were arrested in June and charged by county prosecutors with conspiracy to procure the false arrest of the elementary-school parent volunteer, false imprisonment and conspiracy to falsely report a crime.

If convicted, they face up to three years in state prison.

Prosecutors accuse the couple of planting drugs in the car of the unsuspecting Kelli Peters, who they thought was not properly supervising their son at the school. They are scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 23.

Peters was arrested on Feb. 16, 2011 by police following up on a telephone tip by Kent Easter describing himself as a "concerned parent" accusing her of driving erratically and using drugs in her car at the school, according to the suit. Since her arrest – in front of her child, school officials and students at Irvine’s Plaza Vista School – Peters has had difficulty sleeping, her attorneys say in the family’s suit.

The civil filing names the Easters as defendants and seeks unspecified damages for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment.

Peters has "experienced recurring nightmares about being arrested or about being murdered by an unknown attacker," the suit says. In one such nightmare, "an unknown assailant breaks into her home and slits her throat before killing the rest of her family in cold blood."

Peters wept and shook uncontrollably when she was detained for more than two hours and her husband was "horrified" when he learned she was being held on suspicion of illegal drug use and drug possession, says the suit filed in early August.

Their daughter, who witnessed her mom's arrest, has suffered in school and home, according to the document.

After the incident, she "would wake up in the middle of the night, terrified, and run to her parents' bedroom where she cried herself to sleep in her mother's arms," the suit states, adding the child still has difficulty sleeping, is withdrawn at school, her grades have suffered, and has been shunned by classmates.

Peters is a well-known school volunteer and the PTA president at Plaza Vista, the Associated Press reported following the Easters' arrest.

The Easters conspired to have Kelli Peters arrested because Jill Easter was angry over the supervision of their young son, according to prosecutors. Kent Easter drove to Peters' home on Feb. 16, 2011, and placed a bag of Vicodin, Percocet, marijuana and a used marijuana pipe behind the driver's seat of her unlocked vehicle, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

The Easters have shown "absolutely no remorse for their despicable conduct, which has ripped apart the lives of the entire Peters family," the Peters' suit says.

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